Regina school boards pitch plans for more joint-use schools

Less than two years after building three joint-use elementary schools in Regina, the city’s school boards are teaming up to request provincial funding for four more.

Joint-use schools consist of a Catholic and public school under one roof, with each owned and operated by its respective school division.

In 2017, 18 out of the 20 new P3 schools opened in Saskatchewan were built as joint-use facilities. Four of them were built in Saskatoon, three in Regina, one in Martensville and another in Warman.

Now, Regina’s public and Catholic boards have submitted major capital requests in the 2020-21 provincial budget for four fresh joint-use schools. Three would replace existing buildings, while the fourth would be another addition to Harbour Landing.

The proposal suggests St. Pius X School would share a building with the Argyle/Athabasca School merger, while St. Michael School would be built alongside the Imperial/McDermid School merger.

St. Peter School would be combined with Coronation Park School, and a new one would be built in Harbour Landing West.

While a joint-use school (École Harbour Landing and St. Kateri Tekakwitha) was recently built in the Harbour Landing area, Catholic board chair Bob Kowalchuk said it’s already full — despite early enrolment projections.

“We projected that we’d have a greater enrolment than what we currently had. Did we anticipate that it would happen that quickly? Probably not,” he said.

Kowalchuk added both the separate and public boards are noticing a jump in enrolment numbers.

“We are seeing an increase in urbanization of Saskatchewan and a declining rural population, so there is an increasing need in the urban areas,” he explained. “This is something that both Regina Catholic and Regina Public are experiencing, and we know that we need to anticipate and plan for the future.”

A new joint-use high school for Regina’s southeast end is further down both divisions’ wish lists than the proposed new elementary schools, but with a 2014 feasibility study predicting  the city’s current high schools will reach capacity by 2024, both boards wanted to get plans in place.

Both school divisions will find out whether they’ve received funding to move ahead with these projects when the province releases its budget on March 20.